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Monday, January 04, 2016

Books For The Road - The Hunger Games Trilogy

The Hunger Games Trilogy was something I was sure I wouldn’t
like but everyone for so long has been praising the series that I thought I
should take a look. At least I would read the first book, borrowed from the
library, and if I didn’t like it I didn’t lose anything. It didn’t take long to
get into it to realize I was not going to put it down and I burned through all
three books in less than a week and even watched one of the movies. Thank
goodness we were on a cruise or nothing would have gotten done had I any
responsibilities.

If you are like me and have avoided the hype, here is a
quick summary of what the story line is. Katniss Everdeen is a seventeen year
old who lives somewhere in a future world. (That was enough to make me avoid
the story for so long—not a sci-fi fan.) In this world there is something called
the Hunger Games which is a way for the government to keep their districts in
line by showing their power in requiring that a boy and girl from each district
be placed in an artificially produced environment and hunt and kill each other
until there is only one survivor. Katniss manages to upset the usual outcome of
the games and set in motion a rebellion she didn’t even know was in the making.

The three books take you through all the struggles of a
young girl and the horrors she has to face as her family and friends she loves
are affected by all she does or just by who she is. A lot to place on the
shoulders of one so young and Suzanne Collins does a great job of exploring her
feelings as well as creating great supporting characters for her story.

I only got to watch the second movie in the series, Catching
Fire, since the cruise ship only offered the last two movies. It followed the
book very closely with a little deviation here and there in order to make the
story move along visually.

All in all, if you are facing some free time and hitting the
road, these would be some great books to take along.